Video poker with a tournament feature

Abstract

Each player who is participating in a session of video poker receives, on a periodic basis, a special tournament hand that is displayed on a special tournament bonus screen. The result of the play of each special tournament hand is accrued for each player. At the end of the duration of tournament play, the players with the highest scores receive tournament awards. A player may be required to make an additional wager to be eligible for this tournament play feature. Alternatively, each participant could purchase an overall entry into the tournament or the gaming establishment could award free or partially paid entries into the tournament.

1 . A method of adding a tournament feature to a session of video poker which is played during the duration of a video poker tournament, comprising:
 a) a player participates in a session of video poker which includes playing a plurality of video poker hands;   b) on a periodic basis, a tournament starting hand is displayed to the player;   c) the player plays this starting hand out and achieves a final tournament hand result;   d) the result of each final tournament hand is accrued over the session of video poker;   d) when the video poker tournament concludes, the player receives a tournament award if the player has a high score.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  in which the player must make a tournament wager to be eligible for the tournament award.